


if your heart wears thin i will hold you up

by ikuzonos



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Mostly Fluff, but the world still went to shit, this is like. an AU were dr3's killing game didn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 02:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10295780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikuzonos/pseuds/ikuzonos
Summary: Emotions were such surprising and inconvenient things. Kirigiri had spent her whole life repressing her emotions in order to protect herself, but attempting to do so only led her into a life of releasing them in the worst possible moments.Written for the 2017 drvalentines exchange.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was a gift for Mai aka space-man-momota!

Only the light of the stars and the occasional street lamp kept the sidewalk lit enough for Kyouko Kirigiri to make her way home. The last time that she checked her watch, it had been fifteen minutes to midnight. She shivered the slightest bit, a cloud of air forming in front of her face as she walked. There was still snow on the ground, despite it being a week and a half since the last snowfall. 

Kirigiri regretting wearing high heeled boots to the office that morning.

Numbers and names flew through her head, items that she knew she would struggle to remember come the next day. That was the problem with staying overtime to do paperwork. After six or so hours, it made your brain melt into mush.

As Kirigiri pulled her leg out of a snowbank, she pictured her small apartment with the fireplace in the corner of the living room, and the kotatsu that she and Naegi had recently purchased at a second hand store. She pictured the soft light of the kitchen, and the comforting cream walls.

She pictured her husband, most likely fast asleep on their futon bed, three heavy quilts piled on top of him. Kirigiri laughed to herself, feeling warmth form in her heart. Naegi made Kirigiri embarrassingly happy. Back years ago, when they had been trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy together, she never would have guessed that the boy who cared too much for other people that he barely knew would be the person she fell in love with.

Emotions were such surprising and inconvenient things. Kirigiri had spent her whole life repressing her emotions in order to protect herself, but attempting to do so only led her into a life of releasing them in the worst possible moments.

Naegi, in his infinite wisdom, was one of the first - and only - people to help her try and get her emotions out in a healthy manner. She still struggled to that day, but Kirigiri liked to think that she had managed to make progress in the years that had passed.

Her thoughts had managed to occupy her head for the rest of the way home. Kirigiri had never been so glad to see her apartment complex before in her life. She silently climbed the stairs, treaded down the hallway, and pushed her way into the three room apartment that was her home.

“Kyouko!” came a sudden yet bright greeting. Kirigiri turned her head towards the kitchen table, but had to do a double take. Naegi was sitting on one of the wooden chairs, clad in olive green pajamas, underneath the harsh light bulb that hung from a single wire.

She stared at him for a moment, and raised an eyebrow, “Makoto? I thought I said that you shouldn’t wait up for me.”

“Eh…” Naegi grinned awkwardly, “You did, but I thought you’d be home around nine-thirty at the latest.”

Kirigiri sighed, and removed her jacket and boots, then walked over to the small table, and sat in the chair across from her husband, “Well, thank you. But in the future, please take my advice. It’s far too late to be up, especially with work tomorrow.”

Naegi gave her a knowing look, and she chuckled a bit at her hypocrisy. 

“Get out of that suit,” Naegi said gently, “and we can get some sleep. I got the extra blankets out, just in case.”

Kirigiri stole a glance towards their bedroom. The door was wide open, and sure enough, she could see several soft blankets piled up on their bed. That was typical of Naegi, but it made her smile. The pressure of the blankets was sometimes that exact thing that helped lull her to sleep on the worst nights.

(even all this time later, Kirigiri would still shiver the whole night through when the memories of the killing game wormed back into her head. even all this time later, Naegi would still shoot up in a cold sweat, screaming the name of a fallen friend.

“Kyouko?” Naegi asked, concern seeping into his voice. 

She shook her head, realizing that she’d been staring off into space for the last few minutes. Kirigiri smoothed herself over quickly, and got to her feet, “I’m fine. I’m just going to get ready for bed, okay?”

He didn’t seem convinced by her cover up, but unlike usual, he didn’t press her further. She attributed it to the late hour, and headed off into the bedroom before she could make the situation worse.

After relieving herself from the tight constraints of her work suit, Kirigiri shifted into a pair of soft pajamas that Naegi had bought her for her birthday that year. They were perfect for cold weather, because the heat still didn’t work properly in the apartment, and space heaters could only do so much.

Kirigiri came out from behind the bamboo changing screen to see that Naegi had already climbed into bed, and was currently throwing the extra blankets over the futon. She smiled at the sight of him, tilting her head and stifling her laughter as he kicked the blankets with more force than necessary.

She crawled into bed beside him, and was almost instantly buried by the cushy quilts. Kirigiri rolled onto her side to face her husband, who had a goofy grin on his face. Under the blankets, he reached out and took her hand, her soft velvet gloves rubbing against his smooth skin. She hesitated a moment, then silently removed her gloves, gently placing them on her night table, before interlacing their fingers again.

Naegi scooted closer to her, his palms brushing against the rough burns. Kirigiri had come to accept the burns as a part of her, but the gloves had been a habit for over twenty years prior, and she was unlikely to stop wearing them now.

“I’m glad that you’re safe,” Naegi murmured under his breath.

Kirigiri whispered back, “Worried about me?”

Naegi replied, “I kept thinking about you in the snow… A few times, I considered leaving and going looking for you.”

“Thank you for waiting,” Kirigiri murmured, “You made coming home the best part of my day.”

Naegi nestled closer, setting his head down on her chest, “I love you, Kyouko.”

Once in her life, she wouldn’t have known what to say. Once in her life, she wouldn’t have been able to respond to such an intimate statement.

But this was here and now, and she was  _ safe. _

“I love you too.”

It was only four words, but Kirigiri felt that she had come a long way from the stolid and silent girl that she used to be, and that made her feel satisfied.

Kirigiri fell asleep easy that night, and didn’t awake from a nightmare once.


End file.
